FanHouse CoreyHill

At the UFC's Fight for the Troops, lightweight Corey Hill suffered one of the most gruesome injuries in the history of the sport, landing a kick only to have his leg snap like a twig.

The UFC doesn't have a fighters' union or a comprehensive health plan, and there has been concern among many fans that Hill wouldn't be taken care of. But UFC President Dana White said Hill won't be stuck with medical bills.

In an interview on ESPN Radio 1100 in Las Vegas (via Steve Cofield), White said this:

"Corey Hill is still in the hospital. He had surgery, they put a plate in his leg. We paid for all that. We covered all those expenses. He'll go into rehab, we'll pay for that too."

Hill is going to have a long, painful road to recovery ahead of him, and the injury is so severe that he probably won't fight at all in 2009. I hope we see him back in the Octagon in 2010 -- and I hope this terrible injury doesn't wreck him financially.

Listen to the audio of White's comments below.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship's Fight for the Troops event last night was a good show for a good cause, and the UFC deserves to be commended for putting it on. But it also must be said that the show was marred by nasty endings to three of the 10 fights.

The worst of the three didn't make the TV broadcast. During an undercard fight, Corey Hill kicked Dale Hartt, and when Hill's shin connected, it snapped. It's one of the most horrific injuries I've seen, and I worry that the tall and lanky Hill -- a fighter I've always liked -- may never fight again. UFC.com has the video, but I urge you not to watch it if you're squeamish. It's really disgusting.

Watching the UFC 86 weigh-in, the most striking thing is what an amazing body undercard fighter Corey Hill has:

Hill weighed in at the lightweight limit of 155 pounds. He's 6-foot-4 and he's 29 years old. That's just not normal.

Hill was a high school wrestler, but he got into mixed martial arts relatively late in life, getting his big break when he was a cast member on The Ultimate Fighter 5. He's 2-0 as a pro, so he obviously has a long way to go, but I think he'd be a threat to just about any lightweight, because lightweights don't have experience fighting opponents with that kind of reach advantage. Hill is a fighter to keep an eye on.